Saturday, March 31, 2012

HBD Day

I propose that race realists launch an international Human Biodiversity Day. The idea would be to discuss HBD issues in new and different venues, preferably running the gamut from African IQ deficits and criminality to the ability that Asians can healthily carry more body fat than other groups (as mentioned in Mr. Sailer's "Is Love Colorblind?" article).

In the comments, he discusses the idea and the optimal date with other familiar bloggers and readers of the Steveosphere.

It sounds gimmicky, but, as much as SWPLs are loathe to admit it, that's what raising awareness is about. It's a crowded field. Searching Wikipedia, you'll find that just about every calendar date is something-or-other day. Today, for example, is Cesar Chavez Day. Consequently, the vast majority of these special day designations are obscure, known only to niches taking a particular interest in them.

The likely fate of HBD Day, at least in its seminal years, is just as well. It'll provide cover for those bringing it up to others previously unaware of its existence, allowing them to present it tactfully and in accordance with the sensibilities of their targets. This requires some finesse, of course, and mileage will vary. In most situations, I'd suggest being less bold than Blode does. Rather than starting with group differences in average IQ and criminality, test the waters by explaining your fascination with biological diversity, and then move into the least explosive hatefacts like racial differences in BiDil utility (and the related discussion of race as both social and biological concepts) and anatomical expressions of human sexual dimorphism, then into west African athleticism, etc, progressively introducing more and more 'controversial' subjects as the situation merits.

There are lots of variations on the SWPLish celebrate diversity theme, and HBD Day could easily employ yet another one: Celebrate (human bio)Diversity!

As for the specific date, I'm on board with whatever Blode and company decide. We might also consider birthdays, say Francis Galton's on February 16th, during a slow time of the year and also in the middle of Black History month, or a few days earlier, on the day Darwin was born.